Project Promise

Release:

Project Promise will hold their first fundraising event, beginning November 7th and running through November 12th and you don't have to leave home to participate. The kick-off event will be a virtual gathering on the website projectpromisesoldier.com where visitors can read essays, watch videos and offer their own comments on what Veteran's Day means to them. The site is set up to take donations. Part of the proceeds will benefit Soldiers' Angels/Valour IT project, helps provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technology to support Soldiers recovering from hand wounds and challenges related to TBI, PTSD and other severe injuries.

"This Veteran's Day, every person can take the time to read what people across the country are doing to thank our soldiers and veterans and contribute to Project Promise. This is not just a cause people should pay attention to once a year; Project Promise directly helps the soldiers who earned our respect and gratitude. The money goes to our homeless veterans and our soldiers, who today, face new challenges unknown in previous generations." (Ret.) Colonel David Hunt, Bestselling Author of "On the Hunt" and Fox News Contributor.

"One of the inspirations behind forming Project Promise was how we fell in love with the stories told by different people about what soldiers, veterans and Veterans' Day meant to them and people's desire to say thank you to those who serve in our armed forces. Whether it was the man who speaks with awe about his father's service in World War II, or people who talked about the pain they still feel about the treatment soldiers returning from Vietnam received, or the little girl who told us about how her mother took her and her siblings to the Veterans' Day parade every year to teach her about the importance of saying thank you. The stories span generations and location and are unique in every way except one: they all speak of the need to say thank you and keep an unspoken promise to those that fight to protect us. That unspoken promise factored strongly into our mission," said Christine Hunsinger, project manager for Project Promise. "Everything we do, involves these stories."

Project Promise partnered with small business, Premier Legend, to design and produce Project Promise pins and medals to reward those who make donations. The design is based on a photo taken by AP photographer Laura Rauch. On March 21, 2003, the first day of the ground war in Iraq, India Co. launched an attack on a mechanized unit in Az Bayer, Iraq. During the battle, a fellow Marine gallantly carried a wounded soldier out of the line of fire. Laura was able to capture that moment on film in a brilliant piece of photography.

The tools used to make the pins were made by Shiban Anthony is a W.W.II veteran who completed 30 missions, bailed out MIA 7 times and holds the Distinguished Flying Cross and begins his story, "Here is a kid, not quite 18 years old, from 45 Atwells Ave in Providence, R.I., in the middle of the Pacific Theater flying in a B-29 on a mission to bomb Japan. My worldly background and experience was zero."

The pins are made by Joe Anthony, Shiban's son, a Vietnam Era veteran.

"It has always been a dream of mine to give something back to the military. Over the years, I've realized how important my military training was in helping me to become the person I am. Throughout my life, I have always been proudest of my military service," said Joe.

The Project Promise on-line event runs from November 7th through November 12th at projectpromisesoldier.com.

Project Promise is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to aiding soldiers and their families. Proceeds from the event will be benefit Project Promise and three other charity partners: The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans, The Rhode Island VA, and Soldiers' Angels/Valour IT project.